District Team Appointments Announced

Our Governor-Designate Darryl Sim is pleased to announce the following appointments of Zone 5 members to the 2009-10 District Team:

• District Secretary-Treasurer - Opt Patti Welling (St. Albert Club)
• Zone 5 Lieutenant Governor - Opt Don Holmstrom (St. Albert Club)
• District Supplies - Opt Brian Wallace (Edmonton Dinner Club)
• District CCDHH Chair - Opt Wyn McAra (Edmonton Dinner)
• District PGI Chair - Opt Al Weiszhaar (St. Albert Club)
• District Web Services Chair - Opt Gord Welling (St. Albert Breakfast Club)

Our congratulations are extended to Patti, Don, Brian, Wyn, Al and Gord and best wishes on your contributions to a very successful year.

Scholarship Competition Topics Announced

The topics for the Optimist International Scholarship competitions have been announced:

Essay

"The Internet: Today's Evolution or Tomorrow's Menace"

Oratorical & CCDHH

"The Internet: Cyber Communication - Progress or Problem?"

Clubs are free to run a club-level competition to select winners to move on to the applicable Zone, Regional and District level competions. Clubs can award monetary awards of up to $500 per winner for each competition.

There are club level planning guides available for each competition:

• Club Program Planning Guide - 2009-10 Essay Competition
• Club Program Planning Guide - 2009-10 Oratorical Competition
• Club Program Planning Guide - 2009-10 CCDHH Competition

Garnering interest in Oratorical competitions has been difficult in recent years so clubs may want to consider approaching elementary schools (grades 5 & 6) to start a "Kids Speak Out" program or club.

All materials for club competitions can be purchased from Corall Group by visitingwww.canadianoptimist.com, or by calling toll-free 1-866-739-9555 or by faxing an order to 514-739-7558.

Originally submitted by Optimist Wyn McAra

Welcome to OptiNews for Alberta Capital Region Optimists

Hello to all fellow Optimists.


Welcome to the news service hosted on Google's Blogger service. We will be using this service to publish news stories to our Zone website in the near future. This will allow us to invite authors to post news items and announcements without requiring me to modify the Zone's website. I'll be providing more info on how all of this works in the near future.


In the mean time, I will be adding articles from our Zone website for the current 2009-10 year so I can test imbedding "OptiNews" into our website. You should expect to see posts for the period starting last October.


YIO - Optimist Gord

15 Member Pilot Club Program Extended

This year a new "Pilot Club" type was introduced in the "New Club Building" program. For the first time sponsor clubs can build a new club with a minimum of 15 new members. To qualify for Distinguished Club recognition, a sponsor club would have to build two Pilot clubs in the same Optimist year. This gave us the flexibility to extend the reach of Optimism to smaller communities who could not support building a 25 member club.

The "Pilot Club" program was approved for a one year period to end September 30, 2009. This program was so successful, that a motion was adopted at the 2009 Optimist International Convention to extend the "Pilot Club" program to September 30, 2012."

The Optimist International office reported that of all the "Pilot Clubs" that were approved, most chartered with 25 members. Approval is required to sponsor the building of a "Pilot Club" in a community.  In order to qualify for this program, the proposed Club must be approved by the New Community Growth Department at the International Headquarters. Please note, in order for a Pilot Club to be eligible for one (1) New Club credit, two (2) Pilot Clubs must be chartered by September 30, 2010. If the Pilot Club obtains a total of 25 Members by September 30, 2010, 1 New Club credit will be awarded.

FAQ for 15-Member Pilot Club Program

1st Quarter District Conference Invitation

You are invited to the 1st Quarter District Conference scheduled for October 22-23, 2009 in St. Albert, Alberta. Enjoy the hostitality of the St. Albert Optimist Clubs and take the opportunity to meet with the District Team led by our Governor, Darryl Sim.

Both a "Kids & Companion Programs" are available so you can bring the entire family. Just complete a Registration Form and book your room before they are all reserved!

The rest of the District meetings for the 2009-10 Optimist year will be held:

• 2nd Quarter District Conference - Calgary, AB - Feb 5-6, 2010
• 3rd Quarter District Conference - Saskatoon, SK - May 14-15, 2010
• Annual Meeting & District Convention - Bozeman, MT - Aug 19-21, 2009

Submitted by Optimists Don & Karen Holmstrom - St. Albert Optimist Club